Decalcomania and method of making



Sept. 11, 1934. A, BQRDEN 1,973,403

DECALCOMANIA AND METHOD OF MAKING Filed Oct. 7. 1933 7 Ill/III 'ZIIIIIIII? fill/111% V II/l/l/ll/l/l/l/ TRANSPARENT F/LM. TRANSLUCE/VT IMPRINT. i i 5 OPAOUE/MPR/NT. I H COLORED WORK SURFACE g. g MULTIPLE TRANSPARENT FILM Y MQCIIIIIIIIIIIII o 4 wmwn; w A MFR/N7" W 2,. PAPER.

w INVENTOR EDWIN A. BURDEN.

ATTORNEY ill) atented Sept. 11, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DECALCOMANIA 1,973,403 AND METHOD or MAKING Edwin A. Borden, San Francisco, Calif.

Application October 7, 1983, Serial No. 692,581

2 Claims. (01. 41-33) design of the imprint; to provide atransparent body material for a decalcomania; to provide a cheap, quickly manufactured decalcomania and one which may be easily handled; to provide a feather edge for a decalcomania design; and

to provide a decalcomania which does not dete-' riorate in storage.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent or will be specifically pointed out in the description forming a part of this specification, but I do not limit myself to the embodiment of my invention herein described, as various forms may be adopted within the scope of the claims.

In the drawing which illustrates several embodiments of my invention,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a decalcomania having discrete characters.

Figure 2 is a plan view of a decalcomania having an imprint with apertures therein.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the decalcomania shown in Figure 1, taken as indicated by the line 33 enlarged and exaggerated for clearness.

Figure 4 is a schematic sectional view of a decalcomania showing a design having a feather edge.

Figure 5 is a schematic sectional view of a decalcomania wherein the color of the surface on which the decalcomania is deposited modifies the color of the imprint.

Decalcomania designs, in general, are those which may be easily removed from a paper backing by dissolving with water an adhesive between the imprint and the paper and transferred to a surface of other objects. They date back to the 17th century and may be divided into several classes, according to whether the design is slipped from the paper with'the design reading as it is printed, or is reversed and placed on the surface face down and the paper later removed. In the latter case glue or varnish or other adhesive must be applied to the decalcomania to cause it to stick to the surface.

Such adhesive is not needed in the slip-off types, as the adhesive between the paper and the imprint carries over and fastens the design to the work. I

The base of the decalcomania is known in the trade as decalcomania paper. This material is obtained from the manufacturer coated on one side with a film of water soluble adhesive, and the paper itself is capable of rapidly absorbing water and loosening the adhesive coat under the decalcomania design, allowing the paper to be removed therefrom.

Heretofore the slip-off type of decalcomania design has contained no discrete characters as there 'wouldbe nothing to join the characters during the paper removal and they would be displaced during deposition. Each character would necessarily have to be slipped off separately resulting in a poorly aligned design. In order to hold the various characters together, therefore, it has been the practice to first imprint on the coated side of the decalcomania paper, an opaque layer of background material, of a color which perhaps may be used to show through apertures in later imprints or which is later entirely obsoured. This background layer was made opaque to prevent the eventual surface on which the decalcomania was deposited from modifying the colors of the imprint, and was made large enough to underlie the entire design so that subsequent imprints could be printed not on the paper, but wholly on the background. Thus discrete characters of subsequent imprints would, be held together by the background, this background always, however, obscuring the surface ,of the work.

In the type known as the varnish type, where adhesive is used over the design, the entire procedure is reversed, the eventual upper imprints being laid on the paper first, followed by a final top layer of opaque background. The adhesive is then applied to the background, which, when applied to the surface of the work, still obscures that surface. This latter type must always be printed in reverse, and as type is not made as read, lithographic plates or similar methods must be resorted toto obtain a final readable character.

The use of a background coat precludes the surface of the work from ever entering into the design, and thusprevents the decalcomania from looking like printing wherein the surface of the work is everywhere except where the characters are overlaid. The decalcomania of my invention, however, is capable of simulating an imprint of discrete characters on a surface, needs no inclusive opaque background coat, and may be directly printed from type or standard cuts, using a in general ordinary printing inks.

- parent, virtually disappears after deposition, the

' terials.

color of the work surface showing through the film without change in color or intensity. I may also desire to make the imprint in block design wherein the characters are apertures in an area of color, and in that case I prefer to overlay the imprint and the apertures with the transparent film. When deposited on a surface of contrasting color, such color shows through the-apertures to form the characters in the color of the work surface against the imprinted surroundings. The film then serves to keep the aperture edges in place, to prevent from under or over rolling of such edges and to unify the design. I may also desire to imprint a background having spaces therein, imprint with translucent coats over both the spaces and the background. The translucent coats may be held in place by the usual overall coat of transparent material, and when the complete imprint is transferred to a colored surface the color of the surface will modify the color of the translucent imprints immediately above the background spaces to give color effects which cannot be obtained by combinations of the imprint colors alone. I may, therefore, as an example, get a three color effect from a two color imprint. 1

Referring to the drawing in detail, Figures 1 and 3 show a preferred form of my invention. Decalcomania paper 1 is imprinted with a series of discrete characters 2, in this case the letters of my name. The imprint is, of course, made on the sized or coated side of the paper, the coating being an integral part of the paper as commonly. sold in the trade. ,Thecoating,-while desirable, is not essential, as the design will slip from other materials wherein the inks cannot sink into the ma;-

The imprint may be and usually is in color, although black is often used. No especial inks are necessary, the usual composition being that of pigments ground in linseed oil combined with the preferred amount of drier in accordance with the drying time desired.

Additional imprints may be made on or across the first imprint to. complete any desired design, but there is no necessity for any of these imprints to connect the isolated characters, and if opaque backgrounds are necessary to prevent the color of the work surface from modifying the color of the characters, the background imprint need be applied only beneath the characters. It will be seen, in many cases, that the same type or plate may be used to print such background as is used to print the characters themselves, thus saving one plate.

When small decalcomanias are to be manufactured, it is preferable to imprint multiple designs on large sheets of paper for ease of handling during the imprinting coating and drying opera tions. It is customary in many cases for the decalcomania. to be delivered to the user in this After the imprinting is finished, each complete design is overlayed'with a clear, transparent coherent film 3 which adheres to all the discrete characters and binds them together. The film may be of various materials, and I have found that clear nitrocellulose lacquer, of a composition which does not shrink materially on drying, is perfectly satisfactory. Such nitrocellulose products are available in the trade and may be used without modification for my film. The film may be appliedby a rough printing block or through a silk screen as is commonly used for printing. The shape and size requirements of such an overlay are not rigid'as the film does not show and all that is necessary is that the film be large enough in area and so placed as to cover the design and bind the characters together.

Additional transparent films may be laid down over the first if, more body is desired in the slipped-0d design, and as the combined coats are still transparent the body may be made as heavy as desired without changing or modifying the design in any way.

In applying multiple coats of the transparent material over the imprint Iprefer to have the edges of the difierent coats overlap to form a feathered edge 4, as shown in Figure 4. This type of edge combats the tendency of the decalcomania deposit to peel away from the paper when handled, and also discourages drying and chipping of the edges in storage. A convenient way of forming this feathered edge is to offset the plate or screen slightly with each successive application of the transparent material, as, for example, sideways and downwardly.

Another convenient method is to make the background coat slightly smaller than the final clear coat, with the color imprints intermediate in area, giving rise to a feather edge. This edge is also of importance after the design has been deposited, as rain, water from window washing activities, or like sources, does not tend to separate the design from the work surface, giving a longer useful life to the design.

Figure 2 is a block imprint in which the letters themselves are apertures. Someof the letters, such as the B and 0, have discrete portions 6. Other letters such as the E and the N have not. In this case, as in Figure 1, the coherent transparent film is laid over the entire design and connects the edges of the apertures. The film thus not only holds the discrete portions in posltion, but also maintains the various projections in their proper relationship, as, for example, the points '7 of letter N.

. It is of course obvious that the transparent coherent film may be laid down as the first coat and the imprint made thereomthe removal being made as above described. The film will still bind the characters together. Of the imprint may be enclosed between two coats of transparent material, one laid directly on the paper, the imprint made on the film, and another final film over all. Such variations are obvious and are considered to be within the scope of the invention as exemplified by the appended claims. It is, however, preferable that the film be on top when face-up transfers are made as the film will still be on top after transfer, thus protecting the pigments in the imprint from'deterioration by the elements.

' The color of the work surface may not only be used to show through the transparent portions of the decalcomania to enter into the design of the imprint directly as the actual color ofthe s n:

face, but also may be used to modify certain portions of the imprint so that additional color combinations may be obtained beyond those secured by the imprints themselves.

If an opaque background is apertured when imprinted, and the subsequent translucent ink or pigment imprints are laid down partly on the background and partly over the apertures, effects may be obtained when the design is deposited on a colored work surface, equivalent to those obtained by the use of an additional color imprint. The work surface color will show through the spaces or apertures in the background to combine with the color of the translucent imprints, and change the visible color of the design at those points, but

will not show through where the opaque back-' ground material has been deposited. In this manner, by allowing the work surface color to modify selected portions of the decalcomania when deposited, I am able to get two color effects from a single color imprint, and three color efiects from' two color imprints, in each case saving the labor,

substantially greater than the area occupied by said discrete characters.

2. The method of handling transfers which consists of printing a plurality of transfer units comprising discrete characters directly on decalcomania paper, covering each of-said units with a separate overlay cf tough transparent material, wetting a piece of said paper carrying a number of said units and sliding each unit 01f the paper as desired.

EDWIN A. BORDEN. 

